Page 10 of The Getaway

Before she asked me if I wanted her to move, I had been racking my brain trying to remember the last time anyone had such a strong physical effect on me. But I kept coming up blank. My thoughts are running manic in my mind and her presence beside me makes it difficult to think of something to say.

Luckily, the beautiful stranger is one step ahead of me.

“So, are you here with family… friends…” She pauses for a breath, her gaze dropping for a heartbeat before finding mine once more. “Girlfriend or fiancée?” she asks, bringing the straw of her fruity drink to her plump lips.

Images of her lips wrapped around my cock have me shifting in my seat.

Stop staring at her mouth.

Clearing my throat, I focus back on her hypnotic light brown eyes.

“Nope. Just me,” I answer, and for the first time, that fact doesn’t grate my nerves like it has been since my flight took off. “What about you?”

I watch her closely, subtly crossing my fingers on my beer bottle that her answer is the same.

Don’t get your hopes up, there’s no way she’s single.

She shocks me when she nods and whispers, “Me too.”

My damn heart skips a beat and I turn in my seat to face her.

“I’m Noah,” I say, offering my hand to her.

She smiles brightly and slips her smooth, small hand into mine.

Everything around us pauses. This moment seems to last a lifetime, even when only a couple of heartbeats pass. The feeling of her hand in mine sparks a memory of my dad reminiscing about our mother a few weeks ago.

“When I met your mother, and she smiled at me for the first time, everything else faded away. Nothing else mattered but her.”

I shake the memory away, not wanting to get distracted by the sappy thoughts of my father while having this woman’s sparkling eyes watching me closely.

She chews her bottom lip for a couple seconds before finally answering me. “Bri.”

Bri.

A million questions pass through my head, resting on the tip of my tongue and begging to be voiced. However, considering she’s a stranger, albeit an extremely attractive stranger, they all seem wrong to ask.

But since my dad and brother sent me here to “live a little,” there’s no harm in trying to flirt…

“First day on vacation?” I question and inwardly cringe. I’ve never been one for small talk, always hating the awkwardness and uncertainty of what to say.

Bri settles back in her seat, nodding slowly and bringing the straw back to her mouth. After taking a quick sip, she speaks.

“Yeah, I landed early this afternoon. You?”

“Same. Well, I got in a couple of hours ago,” I say.

Her eyes scan the space around us, taking in everyone before landing on the band to my right. They’re in the middle of introducing themselves, earning cheers and claps from the crowd. The bar isn’t overly packed yet, but there are already a lot more people than I’m used to being around.

Shifting in my seat, I focus back on Bri and try to tune out the voices around us.

“Where are you visiting from?”

“New York,” she answers, swaying to the music playing and glancing at me. “You?”

“The Carolina’s,” I say simply, not wanting to bore her with the details of the small town just past the South Carolina border. Bri smiles in response.

“Ah, I know the Carolina’s very well! Beautiful place to live.”

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